Ensuring Success Every Step of the Way

By Paige Tepping

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In the following interview, Brenda Elliott, CEO/owner of Weichert, Realtors® – The Space Place in Huntsville, Ala., discusses what’s impacting real estate today, the brokerage’s development program, and more

Region Served: North AlabamaYears in Real Estate: Almost 30Number of Offices: 3Number of Agents: 130

What makes Weichert, Realtors® – The Space Place unique?What makes us unique is the fact that we have a comprehensive career development program that’s been years in the making. It’s something that we work on every week to ensure that it’s constantly improved so that we’re giving agents what they need to be successful. If we’re making sure all agents—not just those who are new—have the information they need to continue to improve, to get better and grow in their profession, we’re doing what we need to do.

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How do you stay flexible and relevant in today’s ever-changing real estate landscape?I think it’s important, in this landscape of instant offers and doing everything online, to be the real estate concierge so that we’re providing clients with what they need to know before they even know they need it. Staying flexible and relevant extends beyond simply being an educator and facilitator. Today, we must go the extra mile to bring consumers the information they need, and to be the people they need us to be without them knowing what they need.

In what ways are you preparing your agents for the future of real estate?Again, it all circles back to information, and providing consistent information regarding the market so that agents can build their market knowledge. Preparing our agents for the future is also about being there with information related to new technology, knowing how we can continue to get better at our profession and not letting technology take over what we do when assisting our customers. Over the past four or five years, we’ve been using technology to help us, but we’ve allowed it to hurt us, as well. We have to get back to the basics of communication and understand that while there’s a time and place for technology, we can’t let it replace the relationship with the client.

What is the most significant trend positively impacting your business today?While I try not to get caught up in the trends, I do believe it’s important to be aware of what’s going on. One of the biggest things we have to fight today is the misinformation that’s out there. As trends come and go, I’m focused on my agents and our clients and how we can improve. I’m constantly stressing to agents the importance of servicing their clients and to not be afraid of what’s coming down the pike that they think might usurp their role.

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Final Questions…

What’s your No. 1 tip for staying profitable?Control your own business. For me, it’s a two-pronged approach that focuses on recruiting/retention and bringing in company-generated leads so that we can keep the agents busy, and Weichert® provides amazing resources to help with each.

What’s your key to motivating agents?Make sure they have the information necessary to educate the client.

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What’s your top tip for getting buyers and sellers to work together?We can either be a very strong conduit and facilitate the transaction between buyers or sellers, or we can be the gasoline on the fire. We need to be able to screen out any emotion from the process and help our clients work together to achieve their end goal.